Repeat your test, but grab the ports like if you're strangeling someone's neck.
If its the port cone that went loose, then this should stop the port rattling.

I cannot make the "distortion" nor the "port noise-like" noises go away by doing this. But if I gently push the rubber-material in the left side of the cone in the broken one, I can change the distortion. So there's maybe something wrong in the gluing of the cone.

Here's sine sweep from 140hz to 40hz with my both monitors. This time I put the volume quite loud to exposure the difference. In the broken one, you'll hear the distortion making the sine sound like triangle wave, from about 100hz forward. In the "not so bad" one, you'll hear a subtle port noise-like noise in the very end. It's just something resonating with very low frequencies at a very tolearble amount.

EDIT: and oh, recorded with the same t.bone from 50cm away. Both speakers have the same volume and settings on the back are at center.

Sorry slightly off topic at the moment as I don't actually own any of these speakers but really interested in buying a pair

Here is my dilemma, I'm moving house in 6 months time (I just got a new apartment which is currently being built) and there is a really small room which I will be moving all my gear into:

1.95m x 2.1m (nearly square which I know is not ideal)6.39ft x 6.88ft

Since it is such a small room, it will be quite cheap to treat, some accoustic treatment packages with bass traps come in at around £300

Anyway, back to the Adams:

With such a small room, which Adam speakers should I get?

I'm deciding between:

Pair A3X: £340 - good reviews so far, and I can upgrade to include a Sub7 down the line which will eliminate any port noise problems - is this the right speaker choice for the size of the room?

Pair A5X: £480 - If I get this, can I afford to go without a Sub in such a small room? Will I get port noise from this speaker? Getting A5X and sub7 is breaking the bank a little.

Pair A3X plus a Sub7: £640 - will this combination work? Or will the sub7 cause problems in such a small room?

The A7X is slightly out of my budget and I think it will be too big for the room anyway - however, I should be able to run this without a Sub right? So would this be better? It's an apartment so getting a sub may cause problems with the neighbours..I'm guessing I could get some bass extension from this without too many complaints to turn it down.

Anyway - which should I get for such a small room? I can't try them out in there because I haven't moved yet, and I want to buy some new monitors now because I have some holidays from work coming up and would like to get lost in some beat making.

I cannot make the "distortion" nor the "port noise-like" noises go away by doing this. But if I gently push the rubber-material in the left side of the cone in the broken one, I can change the distortion. So there's maybe something wrong in the gluing of the cone.

Here's sine sweep from 140hz to 40hz with my both monitors. This time I put the volume quite loud to exposure the difference. In the broken one, you'll hear the distortion making the sine sound like triangle wave, from about 100hz forward. In the "not so bad" one, you'll hear a subtle port noise-like noise in the very end. It's just something resonating with very low frequencies at a very tolearble amount.

EDIT: and oh, recorded with the same t.bone from 50cm away. Both speakers have the same volume and settings on the back are at center.

Hi. Do you have any sort of sound measurement device? An iphone with 'decibel' will do.

If you do would you mind doing a test on both speakers?

Play a sine wave at 57hz.
Set it to -1 dB in your DAW.
Put a sound measurement device/iphone 30 cm from one speaker (turn the other speaker off)
Start raising the volume of the sine in your DAW
Whilst looking at your measurement device at what point can you hear port noise?

I heard it clearly at -58dB. Would be interested in how your 'good' speaker and broken one compare.

This is a really small room and pracically square...
All your bass frequincies will be messed-up... and no bass traps will help... unless dimensions of the room is somehow altered structurally.

I would recommend getting a pair of nice referance headphones...
still if you insist get the A3X

Thanks for your comment - I'm not after the perfect mixing solution - i make beats as a hobby and do not have a trained ear.

You say alter the room structurally - would curved walls help? (I have pictures in my mind of curved IKEA furniture frames wrapped in rockwool and upside down umbrellas on the roof!) This is a totally brand new apartment so I can pretty do what I like with the room when I move in.

I won't be playing at great volumes - I'm just after something better than my computer speakers can offer whilst not buying something that I will want to upgrade 12months later

As with all my gear, I aim for semi-pro bedroom quality that I wont want to upgrade straight away e.g.
T.C Konnekt 24D
S.E 2200A with SE reflection filter
Variax700 with PodXT Live -> had this for years and love it still!

I've now totally ruled out the A7X

So - its now between the A3X and A5X

probably will roll with the A3X as I can save my cash and there is a possiblity of getting a sub later

There is also a 2.6m x 3.846m room which I was going to use as my bedroom - I could sleep in the box and have this as the project studio?! Would A3X and sub7 work in this room?

This is a really small room and pracically square...
All your bass frequincies will be messed-up... and no bass traps will help... unless dimensions of the room is somehow altered structurally.

I would recommend getting a pair of nice referance headphones...
still if you insist get the A3X

bass traps will help in my opinion. Bass traps always help. You can make your room workable.
You can make bass traps cheaply using rockwool on a frame wrapped in cotton.

Have a bass trap in each corner, then a thinner trap at first reflection points, so parralel to ears, above your head and behind you.

In terms of speakers the main thing in your situation is to simply have a set that cover about 45hz to 20khz. If the a3x don't do that it will be hard to mix bass frequencies accurately. Either get a sub to complement them or some nice headphones. I use a7x and sennheiser hd25 headphones to check the lo lo end when needed.

bass traps will help in my opinion.
Don't sleep in a box. Quality of life is important.

Maybe in your "opinion" but not in reality as acoustics is purely based on mathmatics... dimensions of the room plays a major role in how it sounds.
Yes, bass-traps always help weather home-made or ready-made... however, not enough for this guys room dimensions.

nutterwithbutter, in your particular room... bass frequencies will be heavy in some areas and almost non-existent in other areas as you move around in your sweet-spot.
In which case it will be useless even if you invests in the best monitors money can buy.
Custom made hanger-type bass traps behind your listening position and corner walls will help but you will loose more than half of your already tiny room in doing so... which is impossible for that size room
That is the reason I suggested a pair of good headphones

However, your (2.6m x 3.84m) bedroom seems more ideal as an acoustic space... You can set-up your small rig in one corner and use the rest as your bedroom.
In this case just hang some bass traps in the corners and HF material in the reflection spots get the A5X's and you're good to go!
That is if your girlfriend/wife/roommate OK with it!

Above poster is right... don't sleep (nor make music) in a box...
Good Luck...

Maybe in your "opinion" but not in reality as acoustics is purely based on mathmatics... dimensions of the room plays a major role in how it sounds.
Yes, bass-traps always help weather home-made or ready-made... however, not enough for this guys room dimensions.

nutterwithbutter, in your particular room... bass frequencies will be heavy in some areas and almost non-existent in other areas as you move around in your sweet-spot.
In which case it will be useless even if you invests in the best monitors money can buy.
Custom made hanger-type bass traps behind your listening position and corner walls will help but you will loose more than half of your already tiny room in doing so... which is impossible for that size room
That is the reason I suggested a pair of good headphones

However, your (2.6m x 3.84m) bedroom seems more ideal as an acoustic space... You can set-up your small rig in one corner and use the rest as your bedroom.
In this case just hang some bass traps in the corners and HF material in the reflection spots get the A5X's and you're good to go!
That is if your girlfriend/wife/roommate OK with it!

Above poster is right... don't sleep (nor make music) in a box...
Good Luck...

Do you know the maths?

From a professional acoustician (Wes Lachot. Weslachot.com)...

I love debunking myths, and the myth of the square room is surely one of the most entrenched. So here we go.

Modal distribution is of course one of the most important criteria for good bass in any small room, but there is no law that says you must have 3 different fundamental modes, or any fixed number for that matter. I know this goes against everything you may have read before, but bear with me here.
Since you're dealing with a rectangular space and thinking in 3 dimensions, and know that 2 of your modes will have identical frequencies, the real question is what is the other frequency , or put another way, what is the ceiling height? Is it by chance somewhere around 8 ft.? If it's 8 ft. exactly then you're looking at 121 sq. ft. of opposing surfaces at 70.6Hz, and 176 sq. ft. of opposing surfaces at 51.4Hz. Musically speaking, these two frequencies are exactly an augmented 4th away from each other (just intonation), and that's a very good thing. If you have only two modal frequencies to work with, it doesn't get any better than that. Well, an equal tempered aug. 4th would be slightly better, and for that you'd need 8'-3". In other words, the two keys associated with 51.4Hz and 70.6 Hz (essentially "Ab" and "D") are exactly opposite each other on the Circle of 5ths (or musical clock), so that in the first two octaves or so where it really matters, the modal frequencies are by definition evenly spaced. This stuff is real easy to see if you do your modal calculations at the piano, which can be seen as a beautifully laid out logarithmic modal chart.

Now I'm not saying I would design a room from scratch this way, but my point is that in the low octaves, a devil's tone * between modal frequencies is not all that bad. And no-one has been able to show me how two sets of opposing surfaces is all that different from one set of the same square footage. And 121 sq. ft. compared to 176 sq. ft. is not all that bad--a 60/40 split.

There is the fact that 51Hz is a little high for your lowest modal frequency. But good bass trapping can lower that somewhat. And hey, lots of gospel music is in the key of "Ab".

nutterwithbutter, you can use your square room to mix in, especially considering the level at which you are talking about.

Back in the other post I noticed that my problem with the other monitor isn't really port noise, and if I gently push the side rubber of the cone, the distort changes.

Now before sending the monitor back, I desperately tried something simple: gently rubbing the flat glued rubber surface of the side of the cone. In two places I can feel something bumpy, and hear something bubble inside so like I predicted, there was something wrong in the gluing of the cone. With the other monitors cone I can't feel any bumps anywhere.

I don't know if it's a good idea to touch these, but there was nothing left to do, so I rubbed and pushed those places it a little and now the resonance that made the sine sound like triangle in 40-100hz is almost completely gone. It's still there, but very tolerable. lol

Yes I do...
don't try to mislead people with with all the wrong facts...
True, he would have been able to make the room work if it were bigger...
however the guys room is tiny and there is no way he will be able make it sound right to be able to justify the cost of A5Xs...

Back in the other post I noticed that my problem with the other monitor isn't really port noise, and if I gently push the side rubber of the cone, the distort changes.

Now before sending the monitor back, I desperately tried something simple: gently rubbing the flat glued rubber surface of the side of the cone. In two places I can feel something bumpy, and hear something bubble inside so like I predicted, there was something wrong in the gluing of the cone. With the other monitors cone I can't feel any bumps anywhere.

I don't know if it's a good idea to touch these, but there was nothing left to do, so I rubbed and pushed those places it a little and now the resonance that made the sine sound like triangle in 40-100hz is almost completely gone. It's still there, but very tolerable. lol

Wow! How much did those monitors cost you? You obviously have a penchant for being kicked or a very high tolerance level to financial pain.

Here's an idea. I'm just throwing this out there and will admit from the start that i don't know sh**t about speakers. Just so you know what level I'm at, I'm planning to buy pair of Behringer next month heh .

But this is what i was thinking; if the port makes noises it's probably due to the air moving in and out of the port and hitting the inside material of the port right? What if you cover/replace this solid materiel with something soft like a tissue or a bit of fomes? But not in a why that it fills the whole completely so you don't lose any lows? Does that makes sense?

I'll take a pair of A7X if that works Mr. Adams. ..I'll even throw in a dance? heh

Or what about filling the whole and drilling some in the back? ...I want those A7X bad.

just play your favorite music and play it LOUD! that is the best burn in and you can usually tell what aspects of the mix these bring out or if you can hear detail unheard before or whatever... playing tones and sweeps for long periods at loud volumes is not cool...

I have a proposal for adam. Buying directly from andam via email and write " hey adam there are problems with some monitors - so i want to buy directly from you a real-life-tested-monitors - with 100% no problems". "I WON'T BUYING ELSEWHERE" WE CAN'T DEAL WITH INTERMEDIATES AT THIS POINT OF THE GAME.
I'M SORRY

I have a proposal for adam. Buying directly from andam via email and write " hey adam there are problems with some monitors - so i want to buy directly from you a real-life-tested-monitors - with 100% no problems". "I WON'T BUYING ELSEWHERE" WE CAN'T DEAL WITH INTERMEDIATES AT THIS POINT OF THE GAME.
I'M SORRY

So what you are suggesting is buying second hand monitors from ADAM directly?

So what you are suggesting is buying second hand monitors from ADAM directly?

I'm thinking (only for issued monitor models).
Contct Adam, tell them the monitors you want, tell them to unpackage them. (if they got ones already packaged)- get real-life-test-them, give me the 100% warrantee they are full working. Get sold it now.

We cant putting intermediate-retailers upon the cross .
We dont't want make more mess.
Who is the main responsible? Adam. That's why I want to deal directly with Adam.
Cutting messing chaotic stages(retailers).
Going for the jugular.(Adam)

Err is a right of everyone as long as everyone take their responsibilities.
Delegate their responsibilities to a retailer does not seem a serious thing.
It is mostly a useless thing that wastes time.
Being a serious company I'm sure they will be available

Right. Despite this thread and others I just picked up a pair of A7Xs which I had put on order six weeks ago. Burned them in for about 8 hours so far. I played the "A1" and "A2" sound files that Big Bang posted. A1 sounds normal. No rattle or port noise I can notice. Running from my computer to a Mackie 1202 at unity and the level on the A7Xs is at about 3 o'clock.

Right. Despite this thread and others I just picked up a pair of A7Xs which I had put on order six weeks ago. Burned them in for about 8 hours so far. I played the "A1" and "A2" sound files that Big Bang posted. A1 sounds normal. No rattle or port noise I can notice. Running from my computer to a Mackie 1202 at unity and the level on the A7Xs is at about 3 o'clock.

Dont do the A1, do the Acoustic LPF Sweep for reasons previously explained.

I just bought a pair of A7X yesterday, and one of them is very different from the another one. The bad one is playing with much less high end than the good one. May it be caused by magnetics from my video monitor, that´s on it´s side ? I´m putting a picture of its placement, but I don´t believe it´s the cause because I´ve used my old monitor in this same place and never had magnetic issues with it. And also the another monitor is sounding good. Please someone help I´m very sad about it.